Culture

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CULTURE - PAGE 4

Feedback is the first warning that can tell an organisation that it is falling off the path. Many organisations that have not heard their employees and consequently failed to take timely action have lost their best talent to competition. ET looks at various ways to foster a feedback culture in an organisation. 1. Lead from Top of the Pyramid The management of any organisation should take the first step in building a feedback culture. "The management should walk the talk and not just talk on receiving and accepting feedback," says UTI Mutual Fund group president and HR head Priya Ranjan.

Devdutt Pattanaik I am the CEO of an Indian conglomerate and one of our new expat hires recently told me that the company has a culture issue. That set me thinking what exactly did he mean and how to change it. Culture is a fuzzy thing but I think what he meant was that we did not have a high performance culture. What would be your advice on how to build a culture that's Indian but also very high performance. In countries like the USA, the culture inside the office and culture outside the office is very similar.

Melbourne: In the wake of recent attacks on Indian students, an Australian business body has come out with a novel initiative - 'Friendship Programme' - for the newcomers in the country to help them better understand local culture before they arrive Down Under. The new initiative by the Australia-India Business Council (AIBC) aims to bring the two culture together in the long-term interest of the two countries that can improve both cultural and business relations. The programme is based on the fact that cultural misunderstandings do occur and that a fractional minority can stir trouble - but as a positive initiative, 'Friendship' will provide a focus to bring forward the best of the two cultures - thereby helping Indian students to better comprehend and integrate with Australian culture.

GUWAHATI: The India-ASEAN Trade Conclave focusing on business and cultural relations between North East India and South The focus of this conclave would be to demonstrate NE's proximity with ASEAN countries, create public awareness of India-ASEAN relations, promote connectivity especially road transport and enhance trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people contact, they said. The conclave would discuss perspectives in business, development, culture and tourism and deliberations would be held on mines and minerals, IT and IT-enabled services, education, health care, agriculture and food processing, border trade, air and sea connectivity, culture and infrastructure, the sources added.

By Harsh Mariwala , Chairman & MD, Marico Culture is defined in the dictionary as "a way of life of a group of people — the behaviours, beliefs and the values that they accept". Values, in turn, are a critical part of every culture. Values exert a major influence on the behaviour of individuals in an organisation. They serve as broad guidelines to be followed in all situations. Organisations too need to define their values. But while determining values, they need to decide what is relevant for their business/strategy.

Romain Wacziarg was all of four months old when he arrived in India, where his father was posted as a commercial attache at the French consulate in Mumbai. He grew up in the city till he was sent off to France for schooling at the age of six. He never returned to live in India but the connection has remained strong. His father, Francis Wacziarg, has settled in India, quitting the French diplomatic services to join Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) in New Delhi and then starting the Neemrana chain of hotels.

NEW DELHI: Symbols of folk culture like songs and instrumental music, architectural concepts, martial arts, paintings and pottery will be the flavour of global talks on intellectual property protection this summer. Countries in the Asia Pacific region will come together at Kochi early April to evolve a common strategy to fight piracy of their rich cultural heritage ahead of a crucial World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) meet in Geneva April-end. These nations will chalk out their common position on how to protect their ethnic expressions and designs, which have witnessed an unprecedented demand world-wide in sectors like jewellery, music, films, architecture and in a variety of consumer products including textiles and household appliances.

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi today wrapped up his visit to Delhi by attending a Bharatanatyam dance recital by Mythili Prakash and said art and culture should not be "state-dependant" but should be honoured by it. "Dance and music have been inherent in our culture and tradition for centuries and one of the specialities is that they are not state-dependant. Indeed that is the hallmark of a healthy society, that art and culture should not be dependant on patronage from the state but be honoured by it," Modi said.

SRINAGAR: Kishanganga is not going to be Baglihar. Islamabad claimed it had reservations over the basic design of the upcoming Baglihar project, but entire J&K rallied behind the government to ensure the work does not suffer. However, at Kishanganga, people are likely to offer a stiff resistance as a significant population is getting displaced. Home to the Dard-Shena population, the proposed project's 962.50 acre dam is displacing 961 families from seven Gurez hamlets. Residents said while 25 of their villages will be inundated, they will also lose six summer high-altitude habitats for shepherds and eight camping sites.

Culture plays a significant role in how time is perceived by a community: It's extremely important for a westerner to be 'on time' while people in the Middle-East & South Asia are comfortable being 'in time', a relaxed 5-10 minute window. , Westerners view their work day as one composed of 30-minute slots while Easterners, with the exception of Japan, have a holistic approach towards time. Westerners like to schedule multiple business meetings during their work day, viewing these as transactional in nature.